


Excavation of the Stars

by TheDreamyWarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, a bit angsty, but everything goes well, but everything went the same, where lapis never came back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19178278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDreamyWarrior/pseuds/TheDreamyWarrior
Summary: Peridot searches for the last thing she feels missing in her life.Set in an alternate timeline where Lapis never really came back, but everything technically happened the same.





	Excavation of the Stars

Peridot looked up to the sky, Pumpkin snuggling just beside her, a small smile on her face, nothing could be better right now, it was perfect: the cluster was no longer a menace for this beloved planet, the diamonds didn't want to kill her or any of her friends anymore, she could go back to homeworld — her original home — whenever she wanted, she had a new stylish form that let her feel how she wanted.

Peridot, for once in a long time felt big, unstoppable.

But there was something missing.

The green gem looked to the orange, round sentient pumpkin that slept to her side, letting out small huffs as she probably dreamt something, it was adorable and made her chest feel warm of happiness.

Then she looked farther from the vegetable, only to see an empty spot in the sand.

How long has it been? She always preferred to not think about that doomed day, the day she lost someone she held dear, the day she ran away never to be seen again.

Pumpkin's sleep was interrupted the moment she heard Peridot crying, she had not cried in a long time, and all she could do was look to their surroundings, searching for whatever made the green gem so upset.

The blue sky, the sound of the waves breaking and trying to eat the sand, only to be held back and try again.

Peridot stared at the blue sea, attempting to hold back the tears that were only running down more abundantly. She covered her eyes. She felt disgusting, just some seconds ago she felt fulfilled, content, but now all she could think of was how much she missed her.

 

"Peridot?" A familiar voice interrupted her alone-time, it didn't bother her, after all she was also someone what she appreciated and respected a lot.

The green gem immediately tried to wipe away the tears, embarrassed at letting herself cry in such a public place. "Yes, Amethyst?" She whispered, attempting to not start weeping again.

"Oh my god Peridot," She then noticed her friend's mood, it was heartbreaking to say the least. "Is there something wrong?" She said while kneeling in front of her, trying to look her straight in the eyes.

"I'm...I'm not…" Peridot wasn't able to look back at her. "I miss her Amethyst...I didn't realize until now but I still miss her,"

Amethyst's eyes widened in surprise, and then her expression turned into a understanding smile. "Well, you know what's the good thing of having a literal diamond on the team?"

Peridot looked up to her, confused. "What?"

"You can get some _political favors_ as I say," She winked at her and chuckled a bit.

Peridot kept staring at her, still not understanding what she meant, but at least this joking around made her feel less miserable about the situation.

Amethyst sighed. "Okay, what I mean is," She looked to the side. "We can look for her now, _you_ can look for her."

Peridot couldn't describe her current feeling as other than hope, it reminded her of that moment when she and Steven were inside the drill, the cluster started to slowly bubble itself so it could not hurt anyone. She felt like there was really something to look forward to after all these months. Maybe could see her again? Her lips formed a small smile, and she hugged the purple gem tightly.

"Thanks, Amethyst, I'm going to do it." She said pulling back, and looking at her friend.

"You go nerd! Find your Percy!" Amethyst joked while standing up, Peridot felt her face heating up, and she just walked to the beach house without another word.

* * *

 

Space...

Dark and also full of light,

Dead, yet full of life

 

Lapis didn't know how long she had been wandering through it, infinite and desolate, the barn floating beside her, surrounded in water. She only had it so she could remember better times that she would never get back. It was her punishment for being a coward and she deserved every part of it.

It was exhausting to say the least, flying without a destination, sometimes stopping on a meteorite so she could rest — even if she didn't really need it — and maybe think.

Thinking was the worst part of everything. Lapis wished she didn't think because everytime she did she just could see the green gem's smile, her laugh, and then the look of pure betrayal the moment she left the Earth; it made her want to disappear — maybe just shatter herself even — but just as much as she feared another war, she feared not being alive more. It was frustrating to say the least.

The blue gem could only blame herself for what happened, she wanted to go back, but how? The only opportunity she really had was back when steven found her on the moon, ah how sad it was to think about the look on his face too. He really thought he was going to get her back and she honestly thought she was also going to go back too.

 

_It all became so lovely_

_Those bluey skies above me_

_Those funny feelings I had_

_Never felt before I met you_

 

Funny feelings indeed. Whenever she thought about Peridot back in the day, she would notice how her stomach and chest fluttered, it was annoying and terrifying at first but she learned to go along with it. But now whenever she thought about her she could only feel anguish. Longing. Lonleliness. She wanted to cry every time at that memory, and nothing made her feel worse than the fact that the tears never left her eyes.

Lapis looked up to the dark space again, seeing the small stars far away from her, she wondered once more how long had it been; the only way to find out would be calculating how far she had flown from Earth, not considering the possibility that she may have travelled in circles a couple of times already.

That was enough thinking for now; thinking was painful and only reminded her that everyone she once knew was most likely dead now.

And so, the solitary wandering continued.

* * *

 

"You do not want the Limb enhancers?" A peridot asked, perplexed.

"I can value myself without those technologically-superfluous heels!" Peridot brushed them off as she walked inside the ship, a group of other gems of her cut following her behind.

"Heels…?" One of the gems said to another in confusion, only getting a shrug in response.

The mission was clear, but also confusing to the gems under Peridot's command: they were searching for an Era 1 Lapis Lazuli, probably with an earthling building near her.

The green gem sat on the main chair of the ship, her feet dangling from the metallic floor. This was probably the most awkward situation she has went through ever since she got stranded on Earth, but it didn't matter. She now had a mission: it was time to find Lapis.

 

No matter how long it takes.

* * *

 

Lapis was exhausted, her overthinking started to gnaw at her and now her mind was fragile as glass. She didn't know what she was doing or why she was doing it anymore. She only knew that she was missing something, as if her heart — that was how a friend from long ago called it? — was left behind, and the tethers tying her to it were about to snap.

The desolation suddenly shifted into pure terror the moment she saw a bright green form starting to approach her. What scared her most was the familiarity of it once she realized what it was...

 

An Era 2 Homeworld Ship.

 

Her instinct, as always, was to run away, flying off as fast as she could, even leaving her dear barn behind just to be able to escape!

_No, no no no no no no no!_

She was panicking, hyperventilating, she could feel the ship approaching faster than she could fly. It was impossible to run yet she still tried. She didn't want to go back to being a prisoner again, she didn't want to be trapped again.

 

But was she ever free to begin with? All she ever did was wander through space, alone, trapping herself in what she thought would be safety.

 

That broke her.

 

She stopped running, holding herself tightly as she let the ship suck her in.

 

The coldness of the metallic floor was familiar, it was ages ago since she felt something similar to it. The neon green made her head pound.

She was shaking, as if she would lose whatever strength she had left and collapse at any second. She heard heavy footsteps, and looked up; tall green gems with yellow chartreuse hair, faces so similar but so different to each other.

Lapis wasn't ready to go through that again, she didn't want to be taken by Homeworld just to be used and incarcerated like every single moment of her life, but she wasn't able to fight, she couldn't even summon her wings, she was weak and defeated.

Then she heard other steps, not so heavy and metallic. When she was able to finally process her figure she saw the Peridot that had not a single limb enhancer, she was small and instead of a confused stare like the others, she had a smile.

The blue gem wasn't able to take it in, but she was different from whoever she thought she knew. She then saw the small gem kneel in front of her shaky form, her small hand carefully approach her face.

Peridot couldn't help the tears that began to streak down her face, she touched Lapis' skin gently as she tried to process that this was indeed, real. The green gem tried to contain the need to hug her but she failed at it, in all her life, she never wept tears of joy and sadness as she did now.

And then Lapis finally realized, it finally clicked in her mind,

This was Peridot. _HER_ Peridot, and the panic and fear turned into confusion but also, complete happiness.

 

"Wait...what are you doing here?" She pulled out of the hug, turning to the other gems now going around the ship, minding their own business. "What about the diamonds? Homeworld? What happened to the Earth?" She was now asking every question she had asked herself during this long time, at least she now had a reliable source for the answers.

Peridot put her hands on Lapis' shoulders, looking into her eyes with the happiest smile. "We won Lapis, we won," She answered, now cupping her face. "And I have been searching for you ever since, just to let you know that nothing is ever going to hurt you again."

Lapis looked straight into Peridot's eyes, and couldn't help but frown in pain at her. All this time, she searched for her, she could've come back to her and stopped running, she would have not lost all that time just overthinking, she could have just come back. She could have been with her this whole time.

 

"Oh my stars I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" She said now pulling the smaller gem into a hug, so strongly while trying to tell herself this wasn't some kind of hallucination, that she was there with her now, that she was truly safe. "I was just a coward."

"I forgive you Lapis," Peridot said in a reassuring tone, hugging her back just as tightly. "Now...let's go home."

They didn't need to clarification; they were already home. With just a share of glances, both knew their home was with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my friend LuClipse85art on tumblr! She helped by proofreading and making this better overall <3.


End file.
